


cat out of the hat

by rare_cat_meme



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Adulthood, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life, idk man it's just cute luren, read to find why, theres a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24399496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rare_cat_meme/pseuds/rare_cat_meme
Summary: "“Babe?”“I’m home!” Renjun sing songs, trying to hide his nerves. He stands in the hallway, afraid of what he’ll find, until Yukhei appears on the living room entrance, still in his work clothes, his megawatt smile plastered on his face and...the kitten happily perched on his hand.Oh, that’s cute. Very cute. Almost kind of hot, the kitten fits perfectly into Yukhei’s large hand. Yukhei’s hand- Renjun focus."or Renjun brings a kitten home.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 16
Kudos: 108





	cat out of the hat

**Author's Note:**

> my mom told me a few stories of when she moved in with my dad and i thought this one was too cute and deserved a place here. enjoy

The alarm clock goes off. _ 6:45am. _ Renjun silents it, already awake, but remains in bed. He can hear Yukhei sing quietly from the bathroom. He smiles to himself, still unaccustomed to the small joys of living with his significant other. They’ve been dating for well over a year, but when Renjun’s lease was about to finish and Yukhei wanted to stop living with so many roommates, it all came together naturally. They are renting a small top floor apartment in the old part of the city. The ceilings are kind of low, Yukhei hits his head on it every time he showers, the kitchen is minuscule and the floor is uneven. It doesn’t matter, Renjun loves waking up to the beautiful view of the river, to squeeze into the tiny couch with Yukhei when they watch a movie or to just listen to him sing in the shower every morning. 

Once he hears the water turn off, Renjun rises from his beloved bed, dragging himself to the kitchen, coffee maker in the stove and a bowl on the counter already waiting for him. As he pours milk on his cereal, Yukhei comes in, back hugging Renjun.

“Good morning,” he whispers, dropping a kiss on Renjun’s neck.

“Morning,” he answers, voice still betraying how sleepy he feels, “have a nice day.”

He takes in Yukhei’s clean showered self, in his classy black trousers that highlight how long his legs truly are, the white shirt tucked into them, top two buttons undone. It’s too early to be discreet, Renjun doesn’t even try.

“Thank you, see you later,” Yukhei slaps his butt before exiting, chuckling to himself.

Shaking his head, Renjun sits on the couch with his cereal and mug, flipping through his phone as he mentally thinks about what he has to do today. It’s his day off, but it doesn’t mean he can just lie down and do nothing, life carries on. There’s some shopping that needs to be done - Renjun is almost sure they are out of toilet paper -, the cabinet of clothes is a bit too messy for Yukhei’s taste - Renjun needs to tidy before he gets antsy - and the plants by the living room window need to be watered. 

Twenty minutes later he’s dressed, face washed and teeth brushed, keys in hand. Stepping outside, Renjun happily welcomes the shy sunlight that’s peeking in the early morning. He’s about to head to the shop down the road when his ears pick up an unfamiliar noise. It’s really low, if the street wasn’t as quiet he wouldn’t have picked it up.

_ Meow. _

Renjun turns to his right, a thick bush from the next door neighbours. Slowly he pulls a few branches apart, and bingo, there it is. It’s a small kitten, no more than 3 months old, all black, eyes big and inquisitive. Renjun coos, love at first sight —  _ shh don’t tell Yukhei. _ He offers a hand for the small creature to smell. It doesn’t get scared, sniffing Renjun’s fingers before rubbing it’s chin on them. Renjun almost melts on the spot. Unsure of what to do, Renjun ponders his possibilities. The kitten is too young to be on the street by itself. The choice is not too hard, he gently takes the kitten, who kicks the air, slightly annoyed.

“Shh, don’t worry cutie,” Renjun coos quietly, holding it close to his chest for better support  _ (his mom once told him cats like stability or something?) _ as he grabs his keys from his pocket, re entering the building.

Once upstairs, Renjun sets the kitten free and runs to the kitchen, filling a bowl with water and opening a can of tuna. It immediately runs towards him, engulfing the food as fast as it can. He watches lovingly until the situation dawns on him. Now what? Does he keep it? What if it’s someone’s kitten that ran away? What will  _ Yukhei _ think? 

Leaning against the counter, Renjun stares at the kitten.  _ He can’t be mad right? _ Who would be mad at such a small, cute creature?

_ Meow. _

“What is it?” he whisper yells, breaking out of his bubble of thoughts. The cat rubs itself on his leg, the tail curling around Renjun’s ankle. He lowers his hand, patting it’s head, and that’s when he hears it.  _ Purr.  _ It’s decided, if Yukhei is mad then it’s over.

Renjun sets a blanket on the living room floor, just by window, which the kitten promptly goes lie down in.

“I’ll back soon, don’t do anything crazy, ok?” he says with a finger pointed and a raised brow. It looks back at him with a blank stare.

_ It’s gonna be okay Renjun, how much trouble can a kitten cause? _

☂

He nearly forgets about it, reality hitting him almost 7 hours later, after he meets Mark for a coffee, goes shopping for food and gets lunch on his favorite sushi shop downtown. It only hits him when Yukhei calls.  _ Fuck.  _ He doesn’t even pick up, he simply runs for his life.

The flat is quiet when he arrives, popping his head through the door before his body, just to make sure it’s not a warzone. All is good. _ For now. _ He steps in carefully, which in hindsight is quite stupid because he’s carrying two bags of miscellaneous food items that hit against each other and obviously are loud, specially in a one bedroom apartment.  _ Real smart Renjun, if you were an assassin, you’d suck at your job. _

“Babe?”

“I’m home!” Renjun sing songs, trying to hide his nerves. He stands in the hallway, afraid of what he’ll find, until Yukhei appears on the living room entrance, still in his work clothes, his megawatt smile plastered on his face and...the kitten happily perched on his hand. O _ h, that’s cute. Very cute. Almost kind of hot, the kitten fits perfectly into Yukhei’s large hand. Yukhei’s hand- Renjun focus. _

“So?” Yukhei asks, barely containing his excitement. _ So, he’s not mad. _

“I went out this morning and it was-”

“It’s a he,” Yukhei interrupts, patting the kitten’s head.  _ Huh? _

“Huh?”

“It’s a boy, I checked.”

How does Yukhei know cat lore?  _ Renjun focus. _

“He was in the neighbor’s bushes. And he’s so young I couldn’t just leave him alone, so I brought him up, gave him some food and water and just left,” Renjun explains. Yukhei nods.

“You did good,” he says, coming close to Renjun and kissing his forehead, “now what?”

“Well, he might belong to someone around here and got lost, he didn’t have any siblings with him...we should ask around,” Renjun offers with a shrug.

Yukhei nods, but there’s a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“That’s a tomorrow problem, what do you want for dinner?”

☂

The evening is peaceful, Yukhei cooks for them - he’s not a great chef, but he definitely tries, and as of late he’s been improving and Renjun is more than happy to leave him to his own culinary devices. Renjun spends that time sat on the floor playing with the kitten, Chalk - a nickname for the time being.

“Why Chalk?” he asks Yukhei in between bites of the kimbap. The latter giggles as he chews.

“When I got home there was a trail of baby powder from the bathroom to the living room,” Yukhei recalls, squinting his eyes as his cheeks rise, “Chalk was playing with the bottle and was covered in it. When he stopped to look at me he actually sneezed. it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

They laugh together, the imagery too ridiculous not too. Renjun’s heart warms, remembering walking into a spotless living room. Yukhei is a trooper. Chalk passes out as soon as night falls, so they take the chance and photograph him, making a SNS post. Their bed welcomes them warmly, as they fall comfortably in a whispered conversation about their day, work shenanigans and, of course, Chalk. 

☂

The alarm clock goes off at 6:45am the next morning. Renjun scrolls through some articles on his phone as Yukhei sings in the shower, Chalk is asleep at his feet. A notification pops up on his phone, a comment on his SNS post. 

**Huang Guanheng** :  _ “Hey, I think you found my cat!” _

Renjun messages him privately.

**Huang Renjun**

Hello!

Do you happen to live by the weird fountain on the alleyway?

**Huang Guanheng**

Yes, exactly!

**Huang Renjun**

When is it convenient for me to drop him off?

**Huang Guanheng**

I’ll be home from work after 5, anytime after that is fine.

Thank you so much!

**Huang Renjun**

Perfect then!

See you!

By the time he looks up Chalk is nowhere to be seen and the water has stopped running in the bathroom. Renjun gets up, quickly going through breakfast and dressing up in record time. Yukhei is already gone by the time he’s putting on his shoes.

“Chalk, behave, I’m dropping you off at your owner when I get back,” he yells to no one before leaving.

☂

Yukhei gets home just past 7pm. The sky is painted purple, the streetlights have just turned on and Renjun is sitting in the living room with only the lamp on the side table on as he reads a novel on the couch. He looks tired, shoulders a little lower than usual, eye bags caved in on his face, but his eyes are wide and there’s a grin on his lips.

“Where’s Chalk?”

Renjun’s mind blanks as he stares at Yukhei. He can feel his mouth forming an ‘oh’. Oh no. It seems to dawn on Yukhei why Renjun has been silent for the past 10 seconds.

“I’m sorry honey,” he says instead, apologetic even if it’s technically not his fault, “his owner answered me this morning, I dropped him off an hour ago.”

Yukhei pouts, dropping his bag and coat on the floor and lies on the couch, head on Renjun’s lap, who’s hands instantly thread through Yukhei’s gel filled hair.

“You’re not too sad, are you?” he asks, just checking. 

“No,” Yukhei answers, voice vibrating in his thigh, “he was just cute. This morning he tried to get in the shower with me,” he laughs quietly.

Renjun smiles, hand pulling Yukhei’s fringe out of his face, taking the opportunity to drop a quick kiss on his forehead. He gets a satisfied hum in response.

“What if,” Renjun wonders out loud, “we consider adopting a cat?”

He doesn’t see it, but he doesn’t need to, Yukhei is definitely smiling into his leg. A large hand grabs the top of his thigh, squeezing it affectionately.

“I would like that.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hello lovelies, long time no see  
> my apologies for being so ia, i've been having a bit of a writing crisis and i've been questioning a lot my work and what i want to express when i write and what not and it's been holding me back from posting. so i wrote something short n sweet to break out of the cycle. NOW, i've been working a few long works (some chaptered) that i REALLY REALLY REALLY want to post soon. pls have hope in me (n if u can spare a crumb of motivation i would appreciate <3 i re read comments whenever i feel like im a lil piece of shit)
> 
> i hope that was enjoyable, luren nation i love u very dearly, u all keep us alive with your thirst to read our works no matter how long it has been since those two mfs have interacted. you're the best.
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/ridikunlous)


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